Ink fountain typing machine



Nov. 23, 1954 G. E. PELTON INK FOUNTAIN TYPING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1Filed 001;. 5, 1950 iv llll-lllll Nov. 23, 1954 G. E. PELTON 2,695,092

INK FOUNTAIN TYPING MACHINE Filed Oct. 5, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 6.7INVENTOR 66221765 ERNEST/Q52 70M ATTORNEY United States Patent INKFOUNTAIN TYPING MACHINE George Ernest Pelton, Bluemont, Va., assignor,by direct and. mesne assignments, of three-fourths to Ida S. Peiton,Bluemont, Va and one-fourth to Miles I). Pillars, "Washington, D. C.

Application October 5, 1950, Serial No. 188,592

6 Claims. (Cl. 197-171) This invention relates to improvements in typingmachines and particularly to improvements in the writing results fromtypewriters, bookkeeping machines, invoicing machines, teletypemachines, posting and auditing machines.

The principal object of, the invention is to provide improved inkingmeans and heating means for the ink for typing and new methods of usingwax ink for writing of richer color, like printing, and having muchfiner appearance.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved non-wovenribbon of high tensile strength which is extremely thin andwear-resistant and has one face that is suitable for receiving hot. inkwithout injury to said ribbon.

Another object is to provide a tough, very thin, writing ribbon, havinga non-absorbent face for receiving heated Carnauba wax ink, of very richcolor.

Another object is to provide heating means (which may be insulated)connected with a typing machine, for liquefying wax ink to feed to aribbon.

Another object of my invention is to provide an ink fountain. typewriterwhich writes two sheets simultaneously, with wax ink, the first sheetbeing thinner and next to the ribbon, which has a face which is toughand smooth.

Another object of the invention is to provide means for liquefying anon-fluid ink until it is a thin liquid, and means for feeding said inkthrough a pipe to rotary members and also means for maintaining acirculation of said ink through said pipe and through a second pipe andmeans for discharging surplus ink.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent fromthe following detailed description of the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

Fig. 1 is a cross sectional view, partly in elevation, of the improvedink applying mechanism;

Filg. 2 is a plan view of the mechanism shown in Figure Fig. 3 is a planView showing an alternative form of ink applying mechanism mounted upona typing machine;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged view showing details of the biasing means for theinking wheel supporting bar;

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the gear train positioned within theinkreservoir;

Fig. 8 is a plan view of a modified form of ink transferring mechanismlocated between the ink reservoir and the ribbon spool;

Fig. 7 is a detail view of control means for the ink feed mechanism ofFig. 6;

Fig. 8 is a plan view of the mechanism shown in Fig. I mounted upon atyping machine with a cover in position over the ink applying mechanism;

Fig. 9 is an enlarged cross sectional view, partly in elevation, of themechanism shown in Fig. l with a cover member applied thereto; and

Fig, 10 is a schematic wiring diagram. showing the circuitry for.energizing the heating elements shown in Figs. 1 and 9.

As the ink is used from. the new ribbon on a letterhead of expensivepaper that. has an. engraved heading ("or other expensive heading) theoily ink cannot give writing of richness of color and finish. of outlineand keep it up day after day, that is at. all harmonious with thequality paper or the engraved heading.

Carbon paper ribbons have long been available but due to their manydefects they have not come into wide use. Efforts have been made topress viscose into the body portion of a white, woven ribbon, dry it,and ink one face with a dry, carbon paper ink. Such a method isdescribed in U. S. Patent No. 1,445,469. This method did not secure asneat writing as is secured from an ordinary, cheap, lightly inked,cotton ribbon. Another inventor tried coating a ribbon with shellac inan efiort to secure more printlike writing. I made the discovery that ifthe user of engraved paper is to have writing that harmonizes with thequality of his letter-head and is to have the ink in the writing matchthe heading at all times, and not have the impressions cut deep into thepaper, and not put the burden on the typist of frequently changing acarbon paper ribbon, it is necessary to quit using knifeedged, cuttingtype and to use the ink from an extremely thin, tough ribbon, whichoffers very slight obstluction between the type and the paper; andbetter results may be secured if a wax ink is used, which must beliquefiedv and fed as a liquid ink to a smooth face of the thin ribbon;and perfectly the first sheet of paper is not the main sheet ofexpensive paper and is not the letter-head, since the best results aresecured if the first sheet of paper is thinner than the letter-head (ormain sheet) and wax ink of extremely rich color may write the firstsheet directly from the wax ink of the ribbon; and the second sheet, orthe main sheet of paper, may be written simultaneously with wax, inkfrom an extremely thin, ink transfer sheet.

By using a tough, synthetic, writing ribbon equal to nylon,approximately two thousandths of an inch thick and having at least onesmooth face suitable for receiving the heated wax ink, and by using athinner first sheet of paper next to said ribbons ink and also by usinga very thin sheet of ink transfer paper following the first sheet, withthe wax ink of the transfer sheet next to the main sheet, orletter-head, it is easily possible to secure beautiful wax ink writingfor the thinner sheet of paper and for the main sheet, or letterhead.The wax ink writing has a finish of outline and of edges like actualprinting and it has extremely rich color, The ribbon never has to absorbthe ink or to act as an ink reservoir. The face of the ribbon towardsthe type may be a clean, uninked film surface or plastic surface, or itmay be a cal endered surface of a fifteen denier, or twenty denier,woven, ribbon which has a suitable, smooth, substantially impervioussurface towards the paper for receiving hot wax ink; such aribbon may beof nylon or other synthetic fibers.

As a common thing today, the thick letter paper is used next to theribbon and the thinner paper is next to the platen. The ribbon in commonuse is about .004 to .005 of an inch thick and is filled with ink. Thefirst writing is too heavy on the letter-head, or main sheet, and thethinner paper is so far from the metal type that the impressions on thethinner paper are often ugly and dim. As the thick ribbon rapidly givesoff its ink, the appearance of the writing on the main sheet, or letter.head, changes. and before long it is dim and ugly. I have made thediscovery that wax ink may be heated and fed to a much thinner ribbonand to the thinner sheet of paper and then feed ink to the letter-headfrom the thin ink transfer sheet, and have all writing of rich color andvery neat.

As explained in my co-pending application, Serial No. 94,872, filed May23, 1949 and now abandoned, it is possible to use ink of one color onthe ribbon and ink of any color desired, or any thickness of the wax inkon the ink transfer sheet. In other words, the typist may write withblack ink that is fed from the reservoir 49 of Fig, 1 to ribbon 5 ofFig. 3, and blue ink: (or ink of any color desired) may be fed from theink transfer sheet. And the typist may at anytime put a sheet in themachine which feeds purple ink to the main sheet, or letterhead, whilethe ribbon continues to feed black inkto the th n.- ner sheet of paperwhich lies next to the ribbon. course if the typist wishes, the writingmay be done w th the main sheet next to the ribbon.

Ink in reservoir 49 (of Fig le-attached to base plate 27 by welding orin any suitable manner) isheated by the electric heating plate 61, andelectric current is rcceived through the cord 62. I may heat Carnaubawax ink to a temperature of about 170 degrees Fahr. This wax ink may bethe usual carbon paper ink used for typewriter carbon paper, made up ofCarnauba wax, petroleum jelly, carbon, coloring matter, or any othersuitable ink of rich color. I do not limit the ink used to anyparticular type. The heated ink is mixed by metal arm member 84A andgears 59 and 60 of Fig. 1, and the ink is then pumped by threaded roller53 up to and through pipe 19 into the space 84. The ink then passes bygravity past mixer 64A, through the narrow space between housing 67 anda stationary, fixed, circular plate 69, and, as the rotary disk 100 isrotated, ink is applied to said disk continuously. The space betweenhousing 67 and the disk 100 may be less than the space shown so that avery thin film of ink may be applied to disk 100 for transfer by contactwith disk 21. The surplus ink which moves down from disk 108 throughspace 50 (between housing 67 and the shaft 20) returns to the inkreservoir as a liquid ink and may be pumped up again by the threadedroller 53. During operation of the machine, the ink in the reservoir isslowly mixed also by gears 40 and 58 (Fig. Disk 21 transfers the ink, asa thin film, to the face 72 of inking wheel 38 of Fig. 1. Control of thethickness of the ink film picked up by disk 21 and control of thethickness of the ink film picked up by inking wheel 38 is maintained inthe following manner: Bar 34 extends transversely of the outer endportion of plate 27 and, at its rear end, is pivotally mounted by ascrew 95 so that it may be urged inwardly by spring 36 (Fig. 4; also seethreaded stud 46 and threaded stud 28 and nut 75 of stud 46 of Fig.1spring secured underneath base plate 27) and spring 36 is anchored tothreaded stud 46 and the other end is attached to threaded stud 28; andbar 34 carries an upstanding shaft 37 (Figs. 1, 2 and 3) about which aflanged inking wheel is rotatably mounted; and inking wheel 38 hasfrictional contact with inked ribbon 5 (Fig. 3) so the same amount ofink may be maintained by said ribbon during its use; threaded screw 78controls the position of lever 44 (Fig. 2) and this controls the contactof inking wheel 38 with rotary disk 21 and controls the amount of inkreceived by face 72 of inking wheel 38 from contact with disk 21. Bar 34may move outwardly since the threaded stud 46 (Figs. 1 and 4) may movethrough a slot 25 in base plate 27; and when lever 44 is moved by handle45 to force bar 34 far out so that one end of lever 44 contacts bar 34at point 98 of bar 34, then, by reason of the cut-out portion of lowerflange 82 (see cut-out 63 of Fig. 6), the flanged wheel 38 may be morereadily removed from shaft 37 (see Figs. 1 and 2) for cleaning andservicing. Lever 85 has handle 101 and the control of the movement oftransverse bar 33 is obvious; stop 14 is a stud in plate 27 whichcontrols outward movement of bar 33 regardless of the position of lever85; in other words, bar 33 cannot move past stud 14; when lever 85 ismoved by handle 101 to force bar 33 towards stud 14, and held in saidposition by screw 80 (Fig. 2) then disk 21 will have less contact withthe ink on the face of disk 100 and will pick up less ink from disk 100;therefore disk 21 will feed less ink to face 72 of inking wheel 38.(Please see my patent 2,471,238 for a more detailed description of thecontrol of ink films of disk 21 and wheel 38.)

Drive shaft 16 (Fig. 2) or any suitable drive shaft may be used torotate the rotary members. In Fig. 2 gear 15 is mounted upon the upperend of drive shaft 16; and gear 15 drives gear 39 (Figs. 1 and 2) andgear 39 drives gears 11 and 47 of Fig. 2; gear 11 being at the upper endof shaft 10 of Fig. 2 and gear 11, when rotating, drives shaft 10, whichhas gear 58 mounted on its lower end, and gear 58 drives gears 40, 60,59; and said gears 58, 40, 60, 59, are in ink reservoir 49 (Figs. 1 and5) and gear 60 rotates threaded roller 53 of Fig. 1.

The inking members of Figs. 1, 2, may be used with any suitable drivingmeans and any suitable ribbon and ribbon spools. Ribbon 5 may windaround pulley 8 of Figs. 2, 3, and may pass to pulley 17 of Fig. 3, andover roller 81 and into vertical spool 6 of Fig. 3. v

The mechanism of Figs. 1, 2, may be used on' each-side of a typingmachine and may be enclosed by insulated cover 102 as shown. in Figs. 8and 9 to preventloss of heat, or there may be insulation for any desiredportion of the ink reservoir and inking mechanism. The ink may be anythickness desired before heating and heating may be done by any kind ofheating means such as resistance elements 104. I do not limit myself toelectrical heating units.

The spools may be located as shown in my U. S. Patent 2,471,238 or inany desired position associated with the typing machine, or connectedtherewith.

The entire cover 102 over the heating means 104 and reservoir and inkingmeans, may be wired for electricity and suitable means may be used fordelivering heat to all parts of the inking mechanism at the same instantthat the heat is applied to the ink in the ink reservoir by energizingheating units 61, so that ink about the rotary members will be quicklyliquefied without waiting for heated ink to be delivered from the inkreservoir to the disks and then to the ribbon. In other words, the inkwithin the housings and about the rotary members will be sufficient forstarting the inking operation without waiting for heated ink to bepumped up from below and transferred to the inking disks 100, 21 and 38and then to a face of ribbon 5. Suitable electrical heating means mayapply a higher degree of heat to the ink in the ink reservoir so thatsaid ink may be liquefied very quickly and some of it fed to the pumpmeans for use imediately after the ink already within the housings forinking said disks 100, 21 and 38 and for maintaining a steady feed ofliquefied ink to a face of the ribbon 5, so the typist may not be heldup by lack of ink.

In Fig. 6, 39A represents an overflow pipe for receiving surplus inkthrough small pipe 19 from the threaded roller 53. In Fig. 6, 39A alsorepresents the pipe through which ink is fed to the reservoir which liesbeneath base plate 27 (see 49, Fig. 1); 52 represents the housing; is aninking disk having four thin spokes; ink is fed to disk 21 from disk 100and from disk 21 ink is fed to face 72 of inking wheel 38. 18 is ashutter for stopping the feed of ink to disk 100, or shutter 18 may beused simply to reduce the amount of ink passing to the periphery of disk100. For elite type machines, I prefer the mechanism of Fig. 1. If veryexact and extremely slight feed of ink is not necessary and if atemperature of Fahr. is maintained during operation of the typingmachine, then plate 69 and mixing arm 64A are not essential. Thismechanism of Fig. 6 is suitable for use in machines having large Gothictype such as used for writing telegrapms.

In Fig. 7 shutter 18 is closed and the feed of ink is stopped. In Fig.7, 56 is an opening for passage of ink. By pulling the shutter outwardlythe wider part of the shutter shown at 23 moves outward leaving 56 freefor the passage of ink to disk 100. 76 represents a metal plate attachedto housing 52 and this plate 76 holds shutter 18 in position whether theshutter is open or closed 011; iskpartly open, for the passage of areduced amount 0 1n Referring to the mixer shown at 54 in the connectingpipe of Fig. 2, there is an extremely narrow slot that extends thelength of the connecting pipe 19 and handle.

68 moves a thin but rigid or stiff metal arm which acts to mix the ink.The handle must be moved manually in order to mix said ink. If heavypigment ink should remain in the connecting pipe for weeks duringwhichtime the mechanism remained idle, then it might be necessary to mixthe ink in the connecting pipe, as well as heat the ink.

With reference to the space 84 of Fig. 1, by careful tests it has beenproved that the ink roller 53, when the threads are fairly deep and thespace between the housing 52 and the roller 53 is as much as .002 of aninch, will pump up much more ink thin is used and ink will accumulateabout the upper end of shaft 20 and will fill said space which serves asan ink storage receptacle. This is very desirable because it means thatafter the mechanism has been idle for some hours or longer, there is areserve supply of ink in said receptacle about the upper end of shaft20, ready to feed 'down promptly to theperiphery of the rotary disk 100;and it is not too much to say that this means a great deal to the typistbecause otherwise the ribbon is being used and time elapses until inkmay be fed to the roller 53 from reservoir 49.

Referring to threaded stud 46 of Fig. 4, this, moves in a slot 25 (Fig.2) and said stud 46 is screwed. into.

the transverse bar 34 (Figs. 2 and 4) and is heldseculrely to said barby means of nut 75 (Figs. 2 and'4) and spring 36" is attached to thelower end of stud 46 down underneath base plate 27.

Of course the various parts ofthe mechanism shown in Fig. 2 may bearranged in different positions and somewhat ditferent designs of themechanism may be seen in Figs. 3 and 6.

I prefer to use a ribbon which is so thin as to be diaphanous and whichis extremely tough and wear-resistant and is inked in the Wide withCarnauba wax ink by the usual standard carbon paper inking machine. Themarket does not now have available a nylon, non-woven ribbon as thin as'.002 of an inch. The same thing is true of Orion non-woven material. Ihave successfully drawn out non-woven nylon ribbons of approximatelytwice the thickness desired, when I began my work. At the conclusion ofmy work, simply by drawing the ribbon forcefully I brought down itsthickness to approximately .002 of an inch. In doing this operation Ihad to start with ribbonsmuch wider'than I wanted to use because thedrawing operation reduced the width. The manufacturers of nylonnon-woven ribbons and webs will soon produce the .002 material desiredin quantities;

I may use an equally tough synthetic ribbon that is" made of 15 denierthreads or 20' denier threads of nylon or Orion.

If a file. copy and a main thicker sheet of better quality paper are tobe used, much better'results are secured by having the thin sheet nextto the ribbon and having an ink transfer sheet, coated on one face withwax ink, be tween the thin file sheet and the main, thicker sheet. Thewax ink of the ink transfer sheet, should be firm and clean to the touchand yet of extremely rich color. The writing secured will be sharper andof richer color and more printlike than usual writing and the file copyas well as the main quality sheet of paper, will have beautifulprintlike writing. As a common thing today the thick letter paper isused next to the ribbon and the thin file copy paper is next to theplaten, and due to the thickness of the ribbon and its oily ink thewriting on the thick paper has poor appearance and due to the thicknessof both ribbon and thick sheet of letter paper, as now used, the writingon the file copy sheet has no chance to be sharp and neat and beautiful.It is a new discovery that one may feed to a ribbon a wax ink which hasbeen heated to a temperature of 170 F. It is extremely economical to usesuch an ink because just a little of it goes a long way and the ribbonmay be tough and wearresistant, good for many millions of impressions.An examination of the work done by the usual ribbon, which must carry areserve supply of ink, shows writing that is too heavy when the ribbonis new and soon wearing down to ugly, dim writing.

I may use an ink transfer sheet coated on one face with an aluminumcoating and. on the opposite face with a tough, plastic coating which isvery thin; and I may apply the Carnauba wax ink to the face of saidtransfer sheet which has the alumium coating. Such a sheet may be verythin and muchstronger and more durable and wear-resistant than ordinarytissue paper such as is used for ink transfer sheets or carbon paper.

The very thin ribbon used may be any of the ribbons described in mycopending application Serial No. 94,872 or I may use a synthetic ribbonor a paper ribbon (treated with resin) which has been frictioncalendered on one face and then coated with a very strong synthetic orplastic coating material and then coated with wax ink. This may be donein wide webs or in narrow ribbons. If in wide webs, the webs will, ofcourse, be slit to the narrow width suitable for typing machine ribbons.I prefer to use ribbons about inch or *5 inch in width depending on thekind of machine used. Of course this does not apply to machines usingtwo color ribbons as they have to be at least /2 inch wide.

The thin, tough plastic coating on the non-inked face of the ribbonmakes it particularly suitable for use in noiseless typing machines.Such a ribbon may be coated before inking with aluminum material anddried and then inked over the aluminum coating. Or the wide web may befriction calendered on both surfaces and then coated on both faces andinked with wax ink over a coated face.

I may use a plastic coated synthetic ribbon or long fiber silk ribbon,which has warp threads securely fastened together side by side withsuitable adhesive material and carrying wax ink on one face. Suchribbons are ex- 6 tremelythin and sincethey are free fromany' crossthreads they have high value. in noiseless typewriters particularly.Such ribbons are now produced asa standard articlewithout any plasticcoating. The ribbons are used for tying boxes.

I prefer to use the heating units and wax ink in electricalcorrespondence typewriters, Teletype machines, electric bookkeeping andinvoicing machines, etc. When power is used in the non-electrictypewriter to rotate the spools, and rotary members of the presentinvention, it means less work for the typist and a lighter action forthe type-bars and lighter movement for the carriage, also for the keylevers. The electric current will furnish the necessary heat byenergizing heating units 61 and 104 to liquefy the wax ink describedherein (or other nonliquid ink) and maintain it by virtue of the settingof heat responsive control units 106 at the desired temperature as athin, quickly flowing ink, during the entire use of the machine. TheCarnauba wax ink will take a much higher temperature than F.

There are electrical, Teletype machines in wide use which rotate thespool shafts by electric power. There are numerous devices on the marketwith thermostat: controlled electrical heating units. But it is a. newinvention and discovery to secure writing of finer appearance and richercolor for many weeks, from one ribbon of such thin, new type by usingheating units to heat non-liquid ink which contains wax and feeds samewhile hot to a ribbon which is in a typing machine. It is also new tomaintain such ink as a thin liquid in the reservoir and in the housingsand about the rotary members until it is fed to a face of the ribbon.The wax ink quickly becomes a non-liquid ink and is clean to the touchbefore the ribbon is wound up.

For a complete description of how the unwinding spool is set free so itmoves without tension or pull, please see my U. S. Patent 2,471,238issued May 24, 1949.

The inking mechanisms described herein may be built extremely small andcompact for any typing machine, including the smallest portable machinesmade.

Variations may be made in sizes and styles of parts without departingfrom the scope of the present invention.

What I claim is:

1. In a typing machine for printing characters on a writing surface, thecombination of a reservoir adapted to contain ink which normally iscongealed and becomes liquefied upon heating, heating means for saidreservoir, a writing ribbon, ink feeding means for transferring ink fromsaid reservoir to a face of said ribbon, and heating means for said inkfeeding means to maintain the ink on said ink feeding means in liquidcondition during operation of the typing machine, and, upon resumptionof operation of said typing machine following a period of idlenessthereof, to substantially immediately liquefy the ink which hascongealed on said feeding means during said period of idleness.

2. In a typing machine for printing characters on a writing surface, thecombination of a reservoir adapted to receive wax-containing ink whichnormally is congealed and becomes liquefied upon heating, heating meansfor said reservoir, a writing ribbon having a non-absorbent inkreceiving face, ink feeding means for transferring said wax-containingink from said reservoir to said face of the ribbon, and heating meansfor said ink feeding means to maintain the wax-containing ink on saidink feeding means in liquid condition during operation of the typingmachine, and, upon resumption of operation of said typing machinefollowing a period of idleness thereof, to substantially immediatelyliquefy the waxcontaining ink which has congealed on said feeding meansduring said period of idleness.

3. In a typing machine for printing characters on a writing surface, thecombination of a reservoir adapted to contain ink which normally iscongealed and becomes liquefied upon heating, means for heating the inkin said reservoir, a writing ribbon, an inking wheel in contact with aface of said writing ribbon, a plurality of rotary members for feedingliquefied ink from said reservoir to said inking wheel for transfer to aface of said ribbon, means for driving said inking wheel and said. inkfeeding members, and heating means to maintain the ink on said inkingwheel and rotary members in liquid condition during operation of saidtyping machine, and, upon resumption of operation of said typing machinefollowing a period of idleness thereof, to substantially immediatelyliquefy the ink which has congealed on said inking wheel and rotarymembers during said period of idleness.

4. In a typing machine for printing characters on a writing surface, thecombination of a reservoir adapted to contain ink which normally iscongealed and becomes liquefied upon heating, means for heating the inkin said reservoir, a writing ribbon, an ink storage receptacle, inkfeeding means for transferring ink from said reservoir to said inkstorage receptacle and for transferring ink from ink storage receptacleto a face of said ribbon, and heating means to maintain the ink on saidink feeding means and in said ink storage receptacle in liquid conditionduring operation of the typing machine, and, upon resumption ofoperation of said typing machine following a period of idleness thereof,to substantially immediately liquefy the ink which has congealed on saidfeeding means and in said ink storage receptacle during said period ofidleness.

5. In a typing machine for printing characters on a writing surface, thecombination of a reservoir adapted to contain ink which normally iscongealed and becomes liquefied upon heating, heating means for saidreservoir, av writing ribbon, ink feeding means for transferring inkfrom said reservoir to a face of said ribbon, an enclosure for said inkfeeding means, and means for heating the space within said enclosure,whereby ink congealed on said feeding means during a period of idlenessof said typing machine will, upon resumption of operation of said typingmachine, be substantially immediately liquefied for transfer to saidface of the writing ribbon.

6. In a typing machine for printing characters on a writing surface, thecombination of a reservoir adapted to contain ink which normally iscongealed and becomes liquefied upon heating, heating means for saidreservoir, a writing ribbon, an ink storage receptacle, ink feedingmeans for transferring ink from said reservoir to said ink storagereceptacle and for transferring ink from said ink storage receptacle toa face of said ribbon, an enclosure for said ink feeding means and saidink storage receptacle, and means for heating the space within saidenclosure, whereby ink congealed on said feeding means and in said inkstorage receptacle during a period of idleness of said typing machinewill, upon resumption of operation of said typing machine, besubstantially ima mediately liquefied for transfer to said face of thewriting ribbon.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

